Over the past three decades, and counting, the Sunday Times Literary Awards, in partnership with Exclusive Books, has established itself as the most prestigious South African prize bestowed annually upon local works of nonfiction and fiction.
Local literati gathered for the 2024 awards ceremony at the Melrose Gallery in Joburg’s swanky Melrose Arch on Thursday night.
Surrounded by artworks and sustained by canapés and tipples, attendees were treated to the witticisms of MC Simmi Areff, followed by speeches — by Sunday Times editor S’thembiso Msomi, and Exclusive Books CEO Grattan Kirk — on the significance of literature in South Africa, and the role the awards play in supporting its advancement.
Keynote speaker Justice Edwin Cameron delivered a talk on South Africa’s democratic history and its divided and uncertain present.
The five titles shortlisted for the fiction award were Buried Treasure by Sven Alexrad (Umuzi), The Bitterness of Olives by Andrew Brown (Karavan Press), Three Egg Dilemma by Morabo Morojele (Jacana), The Institute for Creative Dying by Jarred Thompson (Picador Africa) and Mirage by David Viviers (Umuzi).
South African writer Siphiwo Mahala, together with Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele and Michele Magwood, announced the winner: Brown’s The Bitterness of Olives.
Written before the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip on October 27, Brown’s latest novel is set against the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A retired detective in Tel Aviv and Palestinian doctor in Gaza with a shared past must resolve their differences to investigate a murder.
When asked if he could describe his win in 10 words, Brown let out an astonished laugh, followed by “Sjoe!”
“I’m incredibly happy for the book. That it’s being seen and honoured,” he said. He lauded his publisher, Karina Szczurek, for her courage in publishing the title. Before sending it to the printers, we thought ‘Can this book go out there?’” he explains, in light of the novel’s subject matter.
The five titles vying for the non-fiction award were: The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa’s Racial Reckoning by Eve Fairbanks (Jonathan Ball Publishers); Place: South African Literary Journeys by Justin Fox (Umuzi); The Plot to Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation by Justice Malala (Jonathan Ball Publishers); The Race to Be Myself by Caster Semenya (Jonathan Ball Publishers); and Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg (Jonathan Ball Publishers).
Kevin Ritchie together with Hlonipha Mokoena and Sewela Langeni were unanimous in declaring Steinberg’s Winnie & Nelson the winning title.
Publisher Jeremy Boraine accepted the award for Steinberg, who is teaching in the department of political science at Yale, and was unable to attend.
Boraine also delivered Steinberg’s prepared acceptance speech. “I am enormously honoured to win this award and am bitterly disappointed that I am not with you. If it is after 7.30pm in Johannesburg then I am at this moment teaching a class on the Rwandan genocide in a classroom in New Haven, Connecticut, a pretty grim subject.
“I want to thank Annie Olivier, Jeremy Boraine, Jean-Marie Korff and their colleagues at Jonathan Ball Publishers; they are as generous and caring and as deeply professional as any author can hope for. I also want to raise a proverbial glass to Jonathan Ball who died while I was writing Winnie & Nelson. He started me off as a writer with the most astonishing verve and energy. I was truly blessed to have him in my life.
“I want to thank the Sunday Times for their continued backing of this important award and their partner Exclusive Books. And, finally, thank you to all those who knew Winnie and Nelson Mandela well and agreed to talk freely to me. You helped me learn the history of our country all over again, a journey so painful, so wrenching, but also so deeply nourishing.”
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